Letter to Ashtyn: 5 years old

My beautiful Ashtyn,

You are turning FIVE years old today...FIVE fantastic years old!

I'm not sure how that is even possible?

 I still remember the morning you were born and how much joy you brought to me and your daddy's world!  I don't think we had any idea how much one little thing could change our lives and how we could possibly LOVE something so much, like we do you!  Its hard to believe you've been here for five years already, but at the same time its hard to imagine life before you...

 (One years old)

You are quickly growing into a little lady and I can't believe how much you have matured this year...

I always joke with you that I wish you would shrink down to be my little baby girl again, but you quickly rebut with how excited you are to be sixteen and how much more fun you are as you get older!  You absolutely continue to amaze me and your daddy with how smart you are and how quickly you learn.  You speak in full, creative and complex sentences which sometimes leave us speechless and wondering how you ever learned those words...

You love to learn and read and I hope you always have that passion!

 (Two years old)

You have so much confidence - something I am so grateful for.  You are more of a leader then a follower, but still very graceful with others.  Your teachers at school tell us how quickly you are to comfort others and always willing to help another classmate.  You have your dramatic moments as all girls do, but for the most part you are laid back and goofy - just like your daddy!

You have slowly become an amazing Big Sister to Eli, finally loving on him, helping him and playing with him.  He idolizes you even when you are screaming at him!

 (Three years old)

You are so creative - constantly wanting to do crafts.  Whether its creating flowers with paper plates, fish out of old cds or bunnies out of cotton balls - you love art!  I sometimes feel guilty that I don't want too or don't have enough time to do this with you and I promise to get better at that.  You have an amazing imagination - you still carry around your box of "treasures" and somehow arrange the most random array of toys to create a story for you to get lost in.  You are much better at make believe then I ever was!  You prefer stuffed animals over baby dolls and love to play doctor with them!

(Four years old)

You are a lover of horses and all things sweet!

You prefer stretchy pants over jeans.  You are more about comfort then style, which causes great conflict for me!  You prefer pasta over meat and still very picky when it comes to all foods.  You love to spend time with your Grandma and take trips to the Goodwill, you love to go to your Nana's house who spoils you with crafts and sweets, and you love and idolize your Auntie Em.  But I think your Daddy is your favorite - He plays horses, doggy, doctor, and puppy with you, he tickles you until you can't breath, he tells the best bedtime stories and is always making you smile!

He is the best daddy and in turn you light up his world!

Five years ago we were blessed with the most precious baby girl ever on that early morning, snowy April day!  Everyday, you challenge me to be a better mother, and I promise to always try and give you everything I can.  You have shown me life passes VERY quickly, and I don't want to waste one single moment of this time I've been given to share with you.  I still wish I could cuddle up with you as my tiny, baby girl, but you're right - I love watching you grow up, seeing you achieve your huge milestones, and getting to experience with you those things in life that can only happen as you get older!  You have brought me more joy then I ever dreamed possible and I am so, SO proud to be your Mommy.  You will forever be my baby girl...

 

Happy Birthday, my beautiful baby!  With more love then you could possibly imagine...

 

Mommy

At the Beach...

 The other day we were hanging around the house and when I came downstairs I found this...

 I looked at them with a smile and the look of,

"You know you're going to have to pick this ALL up..."

and Ashtyn says with a cheesy smile...

"We're at the beach Mom...do you like it?"

 I will totally give my daughter props on her creativity and her skills of recreating a beach scene...she's got her blanket, chairs, and umbrella to protect her from the sun, plus she invited her brother along!  I think the umbrella stand is the most impressive part...Oh where does she learn this stuff?!?

Oh, how I wish we were at the real beach NOW instead of sitting in two feet of snow with no sunshine!

Summer please come...

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a busy one this year...like every holiday seems to be! 

I actually had to wake the kids up to hunt for the Easter Bunny's eggs...but once they were up and Eli had his cup of coffee they got into the Easter spirit!  Well, at least Ashtyn did...

The Easter Bunny left them each a big egg with a cute note inside and some candy wishing them a "Happy Easter" and informing them the eggs were hidden outside!

 

 Ashtyn loved her "BIG" pink egg and rushed to put her pants and shoes on so she could go hunt for eggs...

 She wasted no time filling her basket up with eggs - I don't think Eli was even out of the house yet before Ashtyn's basket was full...

 Eli was slow to get moving and really was not interested...he's not much of a morning person when you have to wake him up - so we'll just say he was a crabby bunny all day long...

 When he did find an egg he of course would want to eat the candy inside - so I let him the first couple of times hoping he would get into a better mood, but no that did not work at all...

 The Easter Bunny hid a very special egg this year for both Ashtyn and Eli!

When Ashtyn found it she screamed with joy, ran over to me and then hugged it like it was the best thing she'd ever found!  A bit dramatic, but I was happy to see how impressed she was with the Easter Bunny this year...

 She cracked open the big egg, in her favorite color of purple to find a Hello Kitty diary, a barbie mermaid doll and some princess nail polish!  After opening it she said...

'This is the best Easter EVER!"

 Since Eli didn't really get into the whole "hunting" thing, Ashtyn began searching for his special egg and found it for him!

 Eli didn't scream in excitement he just said...

"Whoa!  That's a big, big egg"...and then kicked it to open it!

Crabby Bunny he was...

 Eli got Thomas The Train sets to build off of his others ones...again he was not all that impressed!

But after another cup of coffee for the crabby bunny, he started to play with his new presents...

 After laying around and playing with their new toys, we headed over to Mimi's for our traditional Easter Egg hunt and breakfast.  Easter was definitely a little different this year - Matt had to work, my parents were on a cruise and Allie didn't come home, so it was kind of lonely for me - yes, I did have a little pity party for myself!  I know I still had tons of family around, but it still was not the same...I only had one glass of champagne!

Ashtyn was a rock star at finding eggs and required no help from anyone this year...Although she did hit up Auntie Pam for some hints and tips of where some eggs were hidden! 

 Eli was a pain in the butt all day long!

Again, he didn't want to participate and just threw a fit in the grass... 

I should have never woke him up - apparently he needed his sleep this morning!

 Uncle Steve enjoying his glass of champagne!

 Uncle Kevin was the only one to get Eli out of his little funk for awhile...

Eli just needed a man in his life apparently!

 Once Eli found some dirt his mood got a little better...I wasn't excited about him getting all dirty, but not listening to him whine was way better then some dirty hands!

 Ashtyn was so cute...once she got done hunting she went inside to "tally" up her eggs in her new diary!

 Eli and his Uncle Kevin...

 There was an actual Bunny that was running through the yard during the egg hunt and all the kids started chasing it - Eli thought this was pretty cool and had to go tell Mimi all about it...It was so cute to see how dramatic he was and the hand movements he used to tell the story...

 Mr. Crabby Bunny - he's still cute though!

After Mimi's we headed home to play at our house and have some lunch!

Before heading back out for Easter dinner at Steve and Pam's we stopped at Starbucks to have a snack and enjoy the VERY nice weather...

 

Steve and Pam hosted another egg hunt for the kids before serving the best dinner ever!

After dinner I finally got to relax with Matt, have a beer and watch Uncle Steve play soccer with Eli...pretty cute!

I definitely missed having my parents and Matt around this Easter, but it was still a good day and I know Ashtyn enjoyed herself - Eli not so much!

The holidays are much different when you are a parent - sometimes they are great and sometimes they are just alot of work andcompletly exhausting! 

And the craziness has only begun - April brings the chaos of birthday celebrations and we start with Ashtyn's next weekend!  Hopefully, I can find the energy to get through it all! 

 Happy Easter...maybe I was kind of a crabby bunny too!

Easter Saturday

 On Saturday we started the Easter Celebrations...

First we headed over to Mimi's to dye Easter Eggs - probably Ashtyn's most favorite craft/thing to do!

Mimi's been collecting egg dying kits for what thirty some years now - so the options to choose from are almost overwhelming - every color imaginable, stickers, tye-dye, paint, stamps, crayons, glitter - you name it!  Its all there to make the most unique egg you can think of...

 

 ...and they all have fun doing so!  Carson was awesome at making his eggs three different colors in perfect stripes - I was impressed!  He's come along way - I remember his first Easter dying eggs he tried licking the egg dye off the floor!

 Eli of course had no desire to dye eggs but pigged out on Mimi's Chex mix - it is the best!

Ashtyn is Brooke's little buddy these days - she loves getting to hang out with her older cousins!

Once Matt got off work we all headed over to the Trujillo's house to have Easter dinner with the other side of the family...Kodi made a ham and Sandy and I made all the fixings to go along!

The kids of course all played so well together and its so fun to watch how big they've all gotten! 

Eli and Cheyenne of course just crack me up - they honestly could be little twins with their facial expressions and they both LOVE their Grandpa Butch who played with them non stop!

After dinner we all went to church together which was just the perfect way to celebrate Easter!  Eli dislikes, very much to go into the kid area for church - he throws the most dramatic fit EVER!  So we decided to take him into the service with us and he actually did great!  He absolutely LOVED the music and the drums, but kept asking where the tubas were?  Flatirons needs to get some tubas in their band!  It was such a great night going to church with the whole family and a great reminder of what Easter is really all about...